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China's fifth biggest bank established

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-03-20 16:49

China's rural financial market was underdeveloped, according to the State Bureau of Statistics.

The government is seeking to promote rural development with the "new socialist countryside" program, which aims to improve agricultural production, living conditions and public administration in rural areas with their huge population of about 800 million.

It was estimated that the country would need 15 trillion yuan (1.92 trillion U.S. dollars) to fund its new countryside construction by 2020, most of which would come from financial institutions, but the rural financial network and services in place in many areas would not meet the demand.